Frankl was a concentration camp survivor who essentially found that those who had a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives were more likely to survive the horrors of the concentration camp than those who had no sense of purpose or meaning. He proposes the idea that meaning is self-determined and comes from within, rather than an external meaning. The most important meaning in life is whatever meaning we choose to create for ourselves.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow: The psychology of optimal experience

In AI terms, this book describes the Doing pathway in detail and explains how to achieve optimal experience (happiness) in daily life.

Norman Doidge: The Brain That Changes Itself

A very readable book about neuroscience, specifically regarding brain plasticity. It has a great chapter on how the brain is effected by love & sex and looks at how different addictions (such as porn addiction, sucrose addiction, drug addiction) are all essentially the same brain process. Overall it helps to understand why we form particular habits and how we can change them, and therefore change our lives.

Alan Watts: Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

Alan Watts is just one of those guys who gets you to think about the world in a different way and think outside of the box. Not what I'd call 'required reading' but very interesting. He doesn't talk about any one topic, but rather riffs on all sorts of things- life, death, meditation, the nature of the universe, Taoism, Zen, Hinduism, Christianity etc. A lot more accessible than J Krishnamurti, and infinitely more interesting and engaging than Eckhart Tolle. Look him up on YouTube.

Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers: The Power of Myth

Essentially this book/TV series breaks down mythology from various cultures and looks at the underlying similarities between them and the lessons they contain for living life. It loosely maps the Hero's Journey which involves facing fear and moving through fear in order to learn and grow into a more developed person.

_________________“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”- Rumi

In particular his books: Strategic Interaction, Behavior in Public Places, and Presentation of the Self...oh, and Interaction Ritual.

You know the term: "saving face"? That was made part of common language, in part, through the work of Goffman. These books are older, written in the 60's-70's.

He is a sociologist who is interested in how people "treat others" as sacred objects. He looks at all manner of social interactions of everyday life and his stories and insights are hilarious at times because they are so "right on." He basically works to describe the various interaction "rituals" that people enact, mostly unconsciously but also, at times, very strategically.

What I find interesting about Goffman's work is that it helps to show just how aware we actually are of the impressions we give to others...it literally shapes even our most intimate motivations for doing anything. The major take away, for me, of his work is the vital importance of finding those audiences that will authenticate your desired performance of self.

Note: Strategic Interaction is particularly funny because he equates the impression management moves of espionage with the seduction and flirting of going on a date.

The world that Goffman's work seems to assume is one that basically holds that we are social, through and through, and individuality in any meaningful sense is always indebted to others, no matter friend or foe, family or lover.

Frankl was a concentration camp survivor who essentially found that those who had a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives were more likely to survive the horrors of the concentration camp than those who had no sense of purpose or meaning. He proposes the idea that meaning is self-determined and comes from within, rather than an external meaning. The most important meaning in life is whatever meaning we choose to create for ourselves.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow: The psychology of optimal experience

In AI terms, this book describes the Doing pathway in detail and explains how to achieve optimal experience (happiness) in daily life.

Norman Doidge: The Brain That Changes Itself

A very readable book about neuroscience, specifically regarding brain plasticity. It has a great chapter on how the brain is effected by love & sex and looks at how different addictions (such as porn addiction, sucrose addiction, drug addiction) are all essentially the same brain process. Overall it helps to understand why we form particular habits and how we can change them, and therefore change our lives.

Alan Watts: Eastern Wisdom, Modern Life

Alan Watts is just one of those guys who gets you to think about the world in a different way and think outside of the box. Not what I'd call 'required reading' but very interesting. He doesn't talk about any one topic, but rather riffs on all sorts of things- life, death, meditation, the nature of the universe, Taoism, Zen, Hinduism, Christianity etc. A lot more accessible than J Krishnamurti, and infinitely more interesting and engaging than Eckhart Tolle. Look him up on YouTube.

Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers: The Power of Myth

Essentially this book/TV series breaks down mythology from various cultures and looks at the underlying similarities between them and the lessons they contain for living life. It loosely maps the Hero's Journey which involves facing fear and moving through fear in order to learn and grow into a more developed person.

What is your true purpose in life? What do women really want? What makes a good lover? If you're a man reading this, you've undoubtedly asked yourself these questionsbut you may not have had much luck answering them. Until now. In The Way of the Superior Man David Deida explores the most important issues in men's livesfrom career and family to women and intimacy to love and spiritualityto offer a practical guidebook for living a masculine life of integrity, authenticity, and freedom. Join this bestselling author and internationally renowned expert on sexual spirituality for straightforward advice, empowering skills, body practices, and more to help you realize a life of fulfillment, immediately and without compromise.

"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown. I recommend this to everyone.

I'm halfway through and what I really like about it is that it talks about what connection between human beings is all about, and then just takes it apart piece by piece and lays it in front of you so you pretty much can see how the different parts of the puzzle relate to each other.

Ah so to form connections first I need to love myself. So how do I do that? Ah, by trying to practice these three things. And how do I integrate those practices into my everyday life? Ah, like this and this and this... and so on.

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck - "To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. And he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, on a particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and on the unexpected kindness of strangers that is also a very real part of our national identity."

Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie - "OverviewThe incredible story of the man behind TOMS Shoes and One for One, the revolutionary business model that marries fun, profit, and social good

• You’re ready to make a difference in the world—through your own start-up business, a nonprofit organization, or a new project that you create within your current job.• You want to love your work, work for what you love, and have a positive impact on the world—all at the same time.• You’re inspired by charity: water, method, and FEED Projects and want to learn how these organizations got their start.• You’re curious about how someone who never made a pair of shoes, attended fashion school, or worked in retail created one of the fastest-growing footwear companies in the world by giving shoes away.• You’re looking for a new model of success to share with your children, students, co-workers, and members of your community.

You’re ready to start something that matters."

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm by Verne Harnish - "Verne is truly the "entreprenuer's guru" - he knows our strengths and weaknesses to a prefect tee and Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is "the well" of inspiration for entreprenuers at any stage of their businesses.

What makes Verne the true genius is the fact that all of the ideas and concepts he talks about in the book are tangible resources that you can EFFORTLESSLY implement into your organization. Most books are full of ideas and leave the reader to "re-create the wheel" in order to make the ideas come to life, but Verne knows entrepreneurs well and has removed the burden of responsiblity to create the tanglibles he talks about.

I love to read, and have a lot of favorites including Good to Great, Wizard of Ads, Topgrading, The E-Myth and Execution -- but Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is truly the most practical and inspiring book an entreprenuer can read."

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